They were also shoes that would give the wearer confidence: a person could speak with authority in such shoes.
There was no need for words, for there are times when words can only hint at what the heart would wish to say.
There are plenty of people who might prefer to go sideways. What about them? How are we to inspire them?
There are many women whose lives would be immeasurably improved by widowhood, but one should not always point that out.
There are lies you tell with your lips and lies you don't need your lips for. And once people start telling lies, then they become like spiders who weave their web about themselves. They become stuck-...
There are countless other instances of Auden’s delight in using words on the cusp of that damning dictionary verdict archaic. Never does one get the impression that these words are being used in a sho...
There are awkward moments from which one can retreat, and awkward moments from which there is no escape.
The trouble with having a conscience, she said to herself, is that it never sleeps.
The readers of Isabel's journal were affected by the conversations within its covers-if nothing else, the livingroom of their moral imagination became bigger. And this must surely have some bearing on...
The problem with being me, thought Isabel, as she walked along George IV Bridge, is that I keep thinking about the problem of being me.
The night is a very bad time for questions to which there are no answers. Mr Badule looked at her. You are very right, my sister. There is
The mention of God made Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni frown. In his experience, people were always claiming that God agreed with them even when there was little or no evidence that this was the case.
That at least was a consolation: separation and loss were something that we all experienced; the pain was shared, and was perhaps easier for that.
She wondered whether there was any way of getting him to take the pills by trickery. She did not like the idea of using underhand methods with Mr. J.L.B. Matekoni, but when a person's reason was distu...
She wanted everything back, as we do sometimes in our irrationality and regret; we want it all back.
She should not have taken any of these people at face value. She had been naive. But this conclusion, she realized, pointed unambiguously in the direction of cynicism. And she would not be a cynic. It...
She gazed at her husband. Being loved and admired by a man like that—and she knew that this man, this mechanic, this fixer of machines with their broken hearts, did indeed love and admire her—was like...
Remember that, she said to herself; remember that in your dealings with others—they may be dying.
People who looked after animals were by and large kind people; they simply practised kindness, unlike those who made much of it. Thus, thought Isabel, are virtues best cultivated—in discretion and sil...
People were forever digging up events that had taken place a long time ago. And what was the point in doing this if the effect was merely to poison the present? There were many wrongs in the past, but...